The present invention relates to a movable water-protection apparatus having a water barrier plate for shutting out water, such as seawater, river water and rainwater, likely to intrude into a basement or for preventing water from running over a seawall, levee or the like, and a driving device for driving the water barrier plate from a predetermined position along a guide device, or for swingably driving the water barrier plate while contacting a side plate.
A movable water-protection apparatus for preventing a house or building from being flooded by river water, rainwater or the like has heretofore been suggested. This conventional movable water-protection apparatus has a float and a water barrier plate attached to the float. Thus, when a water level is increased, the created buoyancy of the float allows the water barrier plate to be stood up so as to prevent a house or building from being flooded by river water, rainwater or the like. A movable levee apparatus for preventing overflow of river water during a flood has also been suggested in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 2-240312. This movable levee apparatus comprises a rotating shaft provided on top of a levee, a plurality of arms respectively extending from the rotating shaft, a plurality of shield plates each of which has a predetermined area and is attached to the arms, and an electric driving unit for driving the shield plates. Thus, the height of the levee may be additionally increased by rotating the shield plates through rotating the arms with the driving unit, as needed. The levee is consequently raised so that overflow of river water during a flood may be prevented.
As described above, in the conventional movable water-protection apparatus using a float, since the water barrier plate can be driven by the float, it is advantageous that a driving source is not required and the apparatus may be activated even during power failure. However, since the activation of the float is subject to a particular increased water level, there is some uncertainty of effective operation. The location for installing the water barrier plate is automatically determined depending on its intended purpose, while the float must be provided at the location where the water level will be surely increased during flood. Thus, in the actual implementation of this apparatus, it is supposed that the water barrier plate and the float can be separately located. This separated layout results in a complicated interlock mechanism between them and increased mechanical resistance. As a result, it may be difficult to drive the water barrier plate only by the float. Such problem may be solved by applying a larger float, but another problem will crop up in connection with an additional storage space for the large float which is not used except in an emergency. For these reasons, the movable water-protection apparatus using a float has problems in actual applications for houses or basements. The above conventional movable levee apparatus for river water is provided with the shield plates, and may be used as an additional levee by driving the shield plates with the driving unit in an emergency, such as overflow of river water. In a normal situation, a walkway may be provided under the shield plates, and the shield plates may also be utilized as a rain cover, sunshade and the like. However, this apparatus has problems. For example, since the shield plates have relatively large areas and are provided at the top of the levee, the shield plates are an impeditive to the view of the levee and can destroy the scenery around river. In an emergency, such as a disaster, electric power cannot be occasionally obtained due to power failure. In this case, since the shield plate of the conventional movable levee apparatus is subject to the electric driving unit, the apparatus cannot possibly function when the additional levee when needed. As for driving the shield plates manually, this is substantially impossible due to the weight of the shield plate. Such a manually driving mechanism is not disclosed in the Publication described above.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a movable water-protection apparatus in which the conventional problems or disadvantages as described above have been solved, and more specifically to provide a movable water-protection apparatus capable of reliably driving a water barrier plate manually or automatically when needed, without an excessive driving power and installation space for the water barrier plate.
The aforementioned object of the present invention is achieved by applying fluid, such as water, oil, and air, preferably service water or city water, to drive the water barrier plate. Generally, a typical building is equipped with a feed water tank, an emergency water tank, and the like. Thus, even in an emergency where service water cannot be obtained, the water barrier plate can be driven using the reserved water in such tanks.
In order to achieve the aforementioned objects, a movable water-protection apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a water barrier plate for shutting out water, such as seawater, river water, and rainwater, likely to intrude into a basement or for preventing water from running over a seawall, levee or the like, and a driving device for driving the water barrier plate from a first predetermined position to a second predetermined position along a guide device, wherein the driving device includes a piston/cylinder unit which is activated by fluid pressure.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a movable water-protection apparatus comprises a water barrier plate for shutting out water, such as seawater, river water, and rainwater, likely to intrude into a basement or for preventing water from running over a seawall, levee or the like, and a driving device for swingably driving the water barrier plate from a first predetermined position to a second predetermined position while contacting a side plate, wherein the driving device includes a piston/cylinder unit which is activated by fluid pressure.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the piston/cylinder unit which is activated by fluid pressure, according to the first or second aspect, may be a piston/cylinder unit which is activated by water pressure. In another embodiment of the present invention, the piston/cylinder unit which is activated by fluid pressure, according to the first or second aspect, may be a piston/cylinder unit which is activated by oil pressure.
In other embodiment of the present invention, the piston/cylinder unit which is activated by fluid pressure, according to the first or second aspect, may be adapted to be supplied with a predetermined pressure of fluid when a water likely to intrude into a basement or likely to run over seawall, levee or the like, is detected.
In yet other embodiment of the present invention, the water barrier plate according to either one of the first and second aspects and the above embodiments may be a water barrier plate for shutting out water likely to intrude into a basement, wherein the water barrier plate is disposed near an entrance of the basement and below a road surface, and a valve device for supplying and draining a predetermined pressure of fluid to and from the piston/cylinder unit is provided within the basement.